The Duelist who thought they could
by IchigaIV
Summary: This may be VRAINS era, but there are still physical card shops. Meet Michael, a college freshman too poor to get a VRAINS headset. Thus, he goes to card shops to try and get the money to enter VRAINS. Join him as he gathers his funds and tries to keep his sanity. Featured characters are not expected until next part in series of stories. -I am in no way affiliated with Konami-
1. Turn 1

"My monster attacks your life points(LP) directly! Burst stream of destruction!" my opponent exclaimed as their Blue-eyes drained me of my last 100 LP. The force of the blast sent me flying into the table behind me. I rubbed my back as I picked myself up. I took my best card from my deck and gave it to the blue-eyes duelist that I just played. She snatched it up and sneered at me, walking away as I counted my deck's card amount to ensure it was still playable. After that duel, I had just 40 cards left.

I left the shop with my head hanging low, overhearing a group of people saying, "Look, it's that weird duelist who says he 'feels' the damage." I walked on, not bothering to defend myself.

"Whelp, you're nearing the end of your track run, Ichiga," said the spirit of the Cerberus in my deck. "I thought I told you to not call me that, MC," I complained. "Well you're losing the right to tell me what to do by losing all of your deck's cards," he refuted. I waved through them as I came to a crossing signal. I was soon joined by a group of other people hoping to cross. A garbage truck was about to pass when I felt myself being pushed into it. The last thing I saw before everything blacked out was black and navy cloak.

When I came to, I was in the back of an ambulance clutching a fusion monster card.

After I was released from the hospital, I was picked up by my roommate. "Hey, Michael. How's the head?" Stephen asked. "Fine, thanks for asking," I replied as I jumped in the front seat. I put my hand into my back to grab my deck box when I felt a second deck box inside. I pulled it out and it was also black and navy. I opened it and I felt a torrent of energy begin to burst forth. I grasped the card closest to me and pulled it out to see it was a fusion card. This fusion card's artwork depicted a spellcaster with many green circles around him, their orange hair and robes fluttering in an artificial wind. I read the name aloud, "Quintet Magician?"

The torrent subsided and I felt a hand on my shoulder. "That's right, master. I am Quintet Magician, the strongest of all spellcasters, yet also the hardest to summon." I shoved the card back in the deck box and waited for us to return to our apartment. In my room, I opened the second deck box and released Quintet Magician once more. I looked up at this tower of magical prowess and saw that he was missing the hat in his artwork. "First off, how did your deck box end up in my posession. Second, how the hell did you save me from being run over. Finally, how can you be tangible?!" I exclaimed in confusion.

He waved his hand, closing and locking the door, closing the windows and blinds, and magically sealing my mouth shut. "I told you I was the strongest spellcaster. It should be no different from me, in essence, placing my soul into the very name. Thus, it causes all things usable with my name to inherit my very being. Unfortunately, there was even a wand shaped sexual device that was given my name." Upon hearing their voice better, I noticed it sounded feminine. On a focused look at their robes, I noticed that Quintet Magician was actually a woman.

"What's that in your pants?" Quintet Magician asked, pointing at my groin. I tried to hide it, feeling extremely embarrassed. She sighed and returned to her card, her last words being, "Don't get too excited. Saving you exhausted a lot of my own power. I'll see you after I'm done recharging." I felt the enchantment on my lips dispell and grabbed my new deck. I sorted through all the spells, traps, monsters, and extra deck to see that it was a deck completely compatible with my own. "Hey, Mike. It's your turn to make dinner," Stephen called from the other side of my bedroom door. "I'll get on it right away," I yelled as I began putting all my cards away.

That evening, I made miso salmon with beans and rice. For dessert, we had the pecan pie that we got a few weeks ago.


	2. Turn 2

"Alright, no big deal. I'm just going to another card shop to get some more cash. All I've to lose are my cards along with my entry fee. No biggie," I said to psyche myself up. I went inside Magic Anderson's Deplorable Loy Deals shop to see the prelims already in session. "Man, another tourney? You're gonna get creamed in the prelims. It'd be better to just-" "Enough! I am sick and tired of you putting me down. I've a new deck line-up and I will beat my opponents. Just you wait!" I exclaimed as I walked over to the register and was assigned my preliminary opponent.

"Alright, who am I gonna face this time," I said as I began unpacking my deck. I heard someone sit down across from me and saw the girl I dueled last week. "You've gotta be kidding me. After your crushing defeat, I'm surprised you're still dueling," Stacy said. I looked into her cold, blue eyes and knew this wasn't going to be an easy duel.

"How about we up the stakes. If I win, you quit duel monsters. If you win, you get back all the cards you lost to me. Sound good?"

I grunted as I began shuffling my deck, "Enough talk, let's get this over with. I'm in for your bet, but I wanna add something more to my reward," I said. Stacy nodded in agreement. I continued, "If I win, not only do I get back all of my cards back, but you also have to fall in love with me." She laughed until I thought I broke her.

She glared at me and said, "You never cease to amaze me, Michael. Should I call you Ichiga instead?"

We both readied our LP counters and drew our starting hands. "I'll be nice and give you a handicap by going first. Also, while we're dueling, call me the Blue-eyed Maiden."

She called out her Azure-eyes Silver Dragon and Blue-eyes Alternative Dragon that turn while setting 2 face-down spells/traps. I hoped that my starting hand would be a good start and drew.

"Ore no turn, Draw!" I yelled, seeing my starting hand. I had Mythical Beasts Jackal, Basalisk, and Garuda; Berry Magician Girl; Double Summon, and World Legacy Succession in hand. I formulated a plan quickly. "Let's see if this works," I said as I began my play.

"First, I normal summon Mythical Beast Jackal from my hand. Then, I activate Mythical Beast Garuda in my pendulum zone. Using Garuda's pendulum effect, I destroy your facedown behind Alternative. Upon placing my scale, Jackal gains a Spell Counter." I felt ecstatic as I saw a bottomless traphole go to the graveyard. "Now, I place Mythical Beast Basilisk in my now vacant pendulum zone, then immediately use its effect. While returning Garuda to my deck to draw a card, Jackal also gains another spell counter," I said as I drew to receive a Jackal King from my draw. "Now, I activate Double Summon to normal summon Berry Magician Girl from my hand. Ignition effect: when Berry Magician Girl is summoned, I can add another "Magician Girl" monster to hand. Now, Jackal has 3 spell counters. By removing 3 spell counters from my field and tributing Jackal, I special summon a different Mythical Beast from my deck. Come forth: Mythical Beast Master Cerberus!" I exclaimed as my boss monster joined the field. "Then, I activate Mythical Beast Jackal King in my pendulum zone and use its effect to special summon Mythical Beast Basilisk from my face-up extra deck. I end my turn." Stacy was surprised by how careful I was being, what with her facing my deck time and time again and knowing just what my cards do.

"Feel the power of the Blue-eyes," Stacy said as she began her turn. "First, I activate Alternative's effect to destroy Cerberus. Then I activate Advanced Ritual Art. By sending a copy of Blue-Eyes White Dragon from my deck to the grave, I can ritual summon this monster. Come forth: Blue-Eyes Chaos MAX Dragon!" I felt my resolve shake with the loss of my boss monster and Chaos Max entering the field. "Then, I activate Return of the Dragon Lords to revive my Blue-Eyes in the grave. Battle Phase: I use Chaos MAX to attack Berry Magician Girl!" "Trigger effect: when Berry Magician Girl is targeted for an attack or effect, I can change its battle position to summon another Magician Girl from the deck and change the target to that monster. Come forth Apple Magician Girl." "1500 Attack points (ATK)? What measly effort is this?" Stacy asked.

"Apple Magician girl effect: When targeted for an attack, I can special summon a 'Magician Girl' from my hand and change the attack target to that monster while halving the attacking monster's ATK. Come on out: Dark Magician Girl! Chaos MAX crashes into Dark Magician Girl!" I exclaim. "In response to Chaos MAX's possible destruction, I activate Return's grave effect. By banishing it, I save it from battle or effect destruction." I felt my blood begin to run cold as I felt the resolve I once had fall further. Once Dark Magician Girl was destroyed, she then proceeded to destroy Berry Magician Girl. Because Stacy forgot to turn Azure-eyes to Attack position, she had to end her battle phase and change its battle position.

"Ya know you need me," I heard Quintet's voice resonate from my extra deck. I couldn't deny her. Backed into a corner this quickly with a deck I had only put together that morning was something I did expect. Blue-eyes decks are only one of the cheapest of decks in the entire game. "I may not have a good deck, but I swore to someone that I would meet them again someday. Even if it is on the net. I will meet her again!" I exclaimed as I placed my hand on my deck, "Ore no turn: Destiny DRAW!" I gazed upon the card that could very well tip the scales in my favor. "This is the end of your reign of terror over me!" I yell.

"I normal summon Chocolate Magician Girl. Appear: the circuit leading to my future. Link markers confirmed: Summoning condition is 2 spellcaster monsters. I set Mythical Beast Basalisk and Chocolate Magician Girl in the link markers. Circuit: Combine! Descend Link 2: Crowley, the Origin of Prophecy."

"What're 1000 ATK gonna do to my dragons? Ichiga, you're even more delusional than when I first met you," she said. "Haven't you learned to not underestimate your opponent?" I snickered. Her expression of total dominance disappeared, replaced by a look of confusion. "Upon summoning crowley, I activate his effect. I choose 3 differently named 'Spellbook' spells in my deck and force you to randomly choose one to add to my hand."

Little did she know that I had a definite chance to get spellbook of Knowledge into my hand for I had spellbooks Knowledge, Power, and Secrets to choose from. Unluckily, she chose Spellbook of Secrets. "Now the true gamble begins. I activate World Legacy Succession to special summon Chocolate Magician Girl from my grave into Crowley's link marker. Then, I use Spellbook of Secrets to add Spellbook of Knowledge to hand. I then use that spellbook and target Chocolate Magician Girl. By sending her to the grave, I draw 2 cards." I drew 2 cards and felt ecstatic. "This may be the very fusion you lose to. I activate Magicalize Fusion! By banishing the materials needed for the spellcaster fusion, I can summon it!"

Stacy burst into laughter once more, tears beginning to stream from her eyes. When her laughing fit ended, she wiped away a tear and said, "For a moment there, I was actually worried. You only have Odd-eyes Vortex Dragon as a fusion monster. I don't see any 'Odd-eyes' cards in your grave nor on the field." "Ah, but I'm not going for Vortex." I swiped up Crowley and my 4 Magician girls from my grave and began shuffling through my Extra Deck. "Oh powerful spellcasters, come together to become the epitome of magical prowess. Fusion summon!" I felt the air among the tables change. As I slammed Quintet Magician onto the table, I recited, "Descend! Level 12: Quintet Magician!" I saw Quintet's spirit come out of the card and rest to float over my right shoulder.

"4500 ATK?! That's second to Five-Headed for the highest natural ATK. That may be high, but I can still destroy it with Alternative and run you right over!" I sneered and said, "What do you mean, 'destroy it with Alternative and run you over'! Your whole board was already wiped." We both gazed down at the board to see that Stacy's board was cleared of everything but Chaos MAX. "What?! How?!" Stacy said in confusion. "I'll explain Quintet's effects to you. It can't be tributed, can't be tributed, and it can't be destroyed by card effects. In addition, when all materials for its fusion summon have different original names, it destroys all cards you control."

"Now, I activate Spellbook of Power to increase Quintet's ATK by 1000. Now, Quintet Magician attacks Chaos Max Dragon!" I yelled. I felt a heavy weight begin to lift from my body. For the first time, I dealt damage to Stacy. "That's 3500 damage. In addition, when the monster affected by Spellbook of Power destroys a monster, it adds another spellbook to hand. I set one card and end my turn." I felt the rush of energy dissipate. "You did well to summon me in one turn, master," Quintet said. "I'm impressed, Ichiga. You managed to deal a heavy blow to me. However, that's going to all the damage you end up doing. My turn, I draw!" Stacy exclaimed, a tinge of panic in her voice. "I activate Trade In. By discarding a level 8 monster, I can draw 2 cards. Then i activate Dragon's Mirror. By banishing the materials on a dragon type in my extra deck from my field or grave, I can summon it. I banish my three blue-eyes white dragons to bring forth the epitome of the blue-eyes deck. Descend now: Neo Blue-eyes Ultimate Dragon!" A 4500 beat stick against a 4500 beat stick. I can only assume that Stacy is going to use another Return of the dragon lords to save their neo dragon and finish me with an overwhelming 12500 in damage. "Now, I use Return of the Dragon Lords to revive my Blue-eyes Alternative Dragon. Battle Phase: I attack using Neo Blue-eyes Ultimate Dragon." "Hoping to do the same thing as earlier with Chaos MAX? Think again! Quick Play spell: Open! Spellbook of Fate. By banishing the appropriate spellbook spells from my grave, I can affect the field accordingly. By banishing three Spellbooks, I banish your Neo Blue-eyes Ultimate Dragon. I banish my Spellbooks of Knowledge, Power, and Secrets for its to rewrite your version of fate!" Oddly enough, I saw a book appear in Quintet's hand. She then opened it to absorb both Neo's attack and Neo itself. "Dammit, I end my turn then," Stacy said.

"Ore no turn: Draw! First, I normal summon another copy of Berry Magician Girl, adding another Magician girl to hand. Then, I activate another copy of spellbook of power and target Quintet magician. Battle phase! Quintet Magician attacks your remaining Blue-eyes. Quickplay spell activate: Ego Boost. Quintet Magician's ATK increases by another 1000. Go, Quintuple Layered Strike!" As expected, she used Return of the Dragon Lords to save her dragon. "The final turn is nearing, Blue-eyed Maiden," I said. She responded, "Just you wait, I'll turn this duel around!" I added another spellbook of fate to hand and then set both it and Magicians' Defense. "Grrr, watashi no turn! Draw! I first use Alternative's effect to destroy Berry Magician Girl." "Chain: Berry Magician Girl changes its battle position to special summon Lemon Magician girl from my deck. Further chain: I activate Magicians' Defense. Any damage I take is now halved once for every kind of damage." "I normal summon Neo Spacian Grand Mole. Battle-yo: Grand Mole no kogeki Quintet magician." "Quick Mahou hatsudou: Spellbook of fate. This time, I banish to set Grand mole." I heard the frustration in her voice as she ended her turn. "This is it. Final Turn: Draw! Leaving your monster in Attack position will be the last mistake you make against me! Quintet Magician, end this duel. Grand, Quintuple Layer Attack!" For some reason, Stacy was sent flying into the wall behind her. She looked up at me with teary eyes as though she were seriously hurt. She left the card store without gathering her cards.

"Man, what's up with her? I win against her one time and she throws a hissy fit?" I said to myself. I gathered up our cards and told the worker at the desk I won. From there, it was an easy tournament. I used the spare cards I owned to tweak my deck back to the purely Quintet Magician deck and won by landslides in my next duels.

That evening, I made burgers and chips for dinner in celebration of my first tournament victory.


	3. Turn 3

Hey, everyone. Apologies for the lack of a chapter this is gonna be. This chapter is mainly to explain some things about YuGiOh that a lot of people probably don't know about until they actually look it up online. However, don't worry. There is still going to be some character development.

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"Go! Grand Quintuple Layered Strike!" Ichiga yelled as he drained the last 3500 of my LP. Why did he ruin the fun we were having? In the pain I felt, I ran from Ichiga and from the store. I didn't know where I would end up, I just ran. When I couldn't run anymore, I stopped to breathe and see where I was. I saw that I was in a popular plaza used by masses of people to watch duels on Link-VRAINS. "Man, I didn't know I ran that far from the card shop. I guess that really shook me up," I said to myself. "Wait, you ran from a cardshop?" I heard someone say. I looked to my left to see a guy about my height with grey hair. "What's it to you where I ran from?" I said in reply.

"Well, seeing someone troubled after a run makes me uneasy. Maybe you and I could talk it over? He asked me. I agreed and we both sat on a park bench. I told this guy everything. How Michael got me into duel monsters and how I had to leave way back then because my family was moving away. Then how since entering university life I had moved back here to try and find him again. When we met again, he was a weak duelist and was trying to rouse him back to his old self. I finally had roused him back to his senses, but was scared by what had happened while I was gone.

"Looks to me like you really are just scared of what kind of duelist he became," he said. "But he wasn't that strong yesterday!" I exclaimed. "Well, maybe he got a booster pack and managed to grab some good cards," he said, trying to reassure me. "You don't understand. I've been monitoring all the booster packs that have been releasing since I started playing. There was no Quintet Magician release!" I yelled, growing even more flustered. "Okay, maybe he got a translated non-regional card?" he asked. "What? Non-regional card? What're those." "Oh boy, here I go explaining stuff again," he sighed.

"The thing about duel monsters is that not every region gets the same cards. While some get something like say Mini-Borrel Dragon, other regions don't. In addition, there are different ban lists. For awhile, Double-Iris Magician was banned on the TCG list while it was limited on the OCG list. This means anyone playing the card without being told otherwise could say they were playing by OCG ruling," he explained. My head was actually spinning from what was being said, "TCG? OCG? Ban list? What the hell're you talking about?!"

"OCG and TCG just refers to the format. In fact, OCG gets certain cards earlier than others. The ban lists just say how many of each card is allowed in a deck. Even then, there are rules when building a deck," explained further. He then proceeded to reach into his fanny pack and pulled out a deck box. "Woah, I didn't know you also dueled!" I exclaimed. He rubbed the back of his head and replied, "I actually don't duel that often. On my off time I play a different card game. Back to the subject at hand," he said as he began shuffling through his deck, "Unlimited cards are cards you can put up to 3 of inside a deck." He set 3 Berry Magician Girls on the bench between us. "Semi-limited cards are cards you can only put up to 2 of into a deck," he continued as he placed 2 Apple Magician Girls next to the first 3. "And finally, limited cards are cards you may only put 1 copy of in a deck," he said as he placed a single Lemon Magician Girl beside the last pile. "There are also cards you can't put into a deck, regardless of the count of called 'Banned' or 'Forbidden' cards," he finished as he held up a Supreme King Dragon Servant Starve Venom. "Oh, so that's why I was booted from a tournament one time for having 2 copies of Monster Reborn in my deck," I said as I was beginning to understand.

"Oh, pardon me for rambling on. I didn't mean to talk about ban lists and stuff. Even though you were just wondering about that card, I told you anyway," he said, "I just get really heated when I talk about Duel Monsters and the like. Again, sorry about that." "Oh, it's quite alright. Despite playing for over a decade, I didn't know a lot about this kinda stuff anyway and was really helped by what you were saying," I said. This guy reminds me a lot of Michael in more ways than one. "By any chance may I know your name?" I asked him. He looked at me with a blank expression. He then snapped back to being what he was before and exclaimed, "Ah, sure. My name is Derek. Nice to meet you. What may I call you?" I replied, "Derek, my name is Stephanie. Although, everyone seems to call me Stacy for some reason." "Oh, maybe it's because you've this sexy aura that you exude," he said.

"What was that? You think I'm SEXY?!" I yelled. I punched him right in the gut and kneed him in the nose and left him lying on the ground. "I'm sorry for what I said, Stephanie," He said as I kept walking.

That evening, I went out and grabbed a bowl of ramen to help drown my high emotions from the day.


	4. Turn 4

**Disclaimer: YuGiOh and all YuGiOh characters, cards, and settings are owned by Konami and whatever animation company they're collaborating with. Please support the official channels and releases.**

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"Alright, let's see here," I said as I counted my winnings, "I've got just one more tourney prize before I can get a headset. I'll just wait until next month." I was worn out from all the winning I'd been doing. Just when I was about to lose every time, I'd draw the card that'd start the combo I'd need to win. I packed up my books and headed for my afternoon classes.

"If you multiply this equation by the derivative of the term afterwards, you get…" I heard as I was writing my notes. Math used to be my forte, but it's only gotten harder and harder. "...Don't forget, class. There's going to be a test this coming Monday. For those of you who are at the lowest bar of the class, I suggest you make it to this test and pass it. Otherwise, you'll be at risk of getting an irreparable grade in this class." This perked me up right away. I was borderline about to be in the red zone. I weighed my options between going to the tourney and studying for the exam this weekend. I continued to mull it over until I was back at my place.

I threw my stuff on my bed, closed the door, and flopped down next to my messenger bag. "What's bothering you, master?" Quintet Magician asked me. I rubbed my face and replied, "I won't be able to compete in the coming tourney this weekend, Quinn. This means I won't be able to regain some of your power before I go to Link VRAINS." Quinn began pouting, floating in the air between my bed and my desk. "Then what the hell're you gonna do, Master?" I immediately answered, "I'm gonna loan you to a friend for the weekend." "What?! You can't just lend someone my vessel! For one, how would you know that they could even use me?! For second, I don't want some other grubby duelist to be putting their mitts on me!" She disputed. I sighed and walked over to my desk. I put her card in a spare sleeve I had for weekend tourneys. "There, now the other 'grubby' duelists won't be able to put their mitts on you directly. I'll tell her that I wanna see how you work in a deck not primarily based around Spellcasters." "How do you even know that they'll even be able to summon me?!" she screamed. I rubbed my ears as I explained, "I know she'll be able to summon you because she's the duelist I first beat with you."

The following day, I texted Stacy and told her that I've been holding on to her deck for awhile and to repay me, she had to do me a favor. When she arrived, we did some shopping before we parted ways. Before we did, I told her that I wanted her to sub in my Quintet Magician at the next tourney she went to. "Alright, I'll do it. I'm still miffed about you beating me, but I'm willing to do you this favor because you kept my cards in pristine condition," she said. I muttered, "Yeah, pristine condition. Maiden was a handful to deal with because she's obsessed with you." "What was that?!" "I said, 'Yeah, it only felt natural since we've known each other since last year.' See ya next week."

When I was at a desk at the library, I slumped into what could only be the weekend of hell for me.

That evening, I made sweet curry with goat meat.


End file.
